What Causes the Erosion of Family Values in America?

Updated on August 16, 2014

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On Hub Pages I read the question, “Why are equal rights the cause of eroding family values in the western world?”

The question, itself, really got me thinking about the meaning of family values, if they are in fact declining, what that looks like, and does equal rights have anything to do with it, if that is the case? It was the inspiration for this hub.

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To begin, I must start at the beginning, the question. The question assumes at least two things, possibly three. First, equal rights are the cause of eroding family values.

Second, family values in the western world are eroding or perhaps even have eroded. Lastly, the question implies a fault, or blame if you will, for the decline in family values on “equal rights.”

So basically, by extension, it implies, be it purposefully or not, that females, or more specifically legally acknowledging the rights of females, is to blame.

Upon first glance the original question appears simple, if somewhat loaded. It really isn’t. Just the term ‘family values” can be and is interpreted differently depending on what one’s individual experience and expectations of and with family is.

The fact that things are not really equal has more to do with it and the why of that inequality more so than that. It is also a decline, an eating away of the belief system and lifestyle we had that is at the heart of the problem. It springs from the very language we use to frame our conversations about it, from the ambiguous, conflicting laws and policies addressing it, and it spills over into every aspect of our society. It is affecting all of us negatively be we male or female.

This hub shall endeavor to do the following.

Define Equal Rights and critically examine if they contribute to a fading value system.

Define family values. Examine how they have changed over recent time.

Show observable, measurable evidence of the decline of family values.

Establish that the cause/s of the decline in traditional family values and to a large extent the inequality that divides us stem from the laws, policies, messages and socialization we receive from the systems that surround us.

Examine how the evolution of language is contributing to not only the declining value system but to further division as well. Simply stated, it will look at how the idea that all communication must be politically correct is fanning the flames of inequality.

The shrinking/mutating of the traditional family value system is leading to the increasingly fast failing of our nation as a whole. It all begins with the decline of the family itself. Equal rights has nothing to do with it in the sense one might expect.

Vladimir Ulyich Lenin | Source

"Destroy the family, you destroy the country."

Vladimir Ulyich Lenin

(First leader of the Soviet Union).

Do you think perhaps someone put this plan into play? Do you think considering his political affiliations that maybe that person was a socialist? Have you been hearing that word much in relation to our current leaders? Food for thought.

1.) What are equal rights?

Equal rights, as a legal term is, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."

History trivia:

Guess what? Equal rights is real, right? Not. Nope, not even, gals. It never passed. For real. Check it out. Google it, Youtube it. You won't like what you find.

How can something that really doesn’t exist, since it was never fully ratified by all needed states, be the cause of anything? Surprised girls? It’s a rather sobering thought is it not? We are not considered equal to men, by law, or in this case, the lack thereof. Does this lack of legal equality perhaps have something to do with the decline of traditional values itself? Could a devaluation of women, of over half the population, through lack of legal equality have played a part in things such as…

The number of single parent households headed by women.In 2006 over 10 million families were classified as single head of household with a female as that single head. That was 80% of all single head of households reported.

The number of women assaulted each year.Almost two million women are physically assualted in this country every year. That's just the number reported mind you. Each year over 120 thousand people are sexually assualted, men and women. It is estimated that only 60% of rapes are ever reported.

The number of female children assaulted each year. In America, over three and a half million children are abused each year. Girls are more likely to be abused than boys. In cases of sexual abuse 75% of all cases is of abuse against girls.

The incidence of child abuse against all children reported, only what is reported, is going up steadily each year.

Historical Tidbit:

The only reason women got the right to vote was because the then president promised it in exchange for the support of the Women's Sufferage Group for America entering the war.

Or, are men and women equal in a legal sense?

How can that be considering Equal Rights never passed? To be fair, there are laws that do protect the rights of women, when enforced. So, if nothing else, it is becoming increasingly clear that our nation is at the very least sending mixed signals about the value of women.

On August 26, 1920 the 19th amendment was signed into law “granting” women the right to vote. This often lulls us females into thinking we are equal.

Further support for our equality, in a legal sense, can be found in anti discrimination policies and laws in regards to hiring and work environments. Are these laws always enforced? No, but they do help, when one has the vast energy and resources needed to maneuver through the system. There’s that word again… system.

2.) What are family values?

Dictionary.com defines them as…“the moral and ethical principles traditionally upheld and transmitted within a family, as honesty, loyalty, industry, and faith.”

Thefreedictionary.com defines them as…“The moral and social values traditionally maintained and affirmed within a family.”

As we can see, subtle differences exist even within the dictionaries. While such differences seem small, they contribute to a lack of overall understanding which further plays into the decline. How can we practice what we can’t even readily define? Assuming we all agreed on the four values contained within the first definition, and we don’t, how are said values to be transmitted via the family when families are breaking up all over the country?

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The divorce rate in our country is roughly 50%. One in every two marriages ends in divorce. Divorce rates increase with each successive marriage.

Homeless ChildrenHomeless children tell their stories of surviving abuse and life on the streets.

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Created by SerbianDoll23 on You Tube

3.) Measurable, obserable data illustrating the decline of family values in America.

Indicators

See the above data on divorce rates and abuse.

Homeless children abound in America.

In 2009 it was estimated one in fifty children in this country were homeless. Today the numbers are much higher. It’s estimated there are one to two million children on the street every night. You may be wondering what’s up with the one million range there. I did. The range is due to things like “couch surfing,” staying in a shelter, being in jail, or just not being counted, falling so far below the radar that even the bean counters fail to see.

There are close to half a million children in foster care. That number is down a surprising 20% since 2009. Does our nation seem kinder, better off, or vastly improved to you since 2009? Do you wonder if maybe there is some kind of connection between the rising number of homeless children and the lower number of abused children going into protective services? Do you wonder if maybe some of these kids are running into the streets rather than protective services? Why would that be?

The percentage of children dropping out of school.

Estimations range from 50 to 75% completion rates for high school graduation. These numbers are so misleading. It is much worse. Why? The numbers are skewed. Some ways in which that happens are, first, children are withdrawn all the time for home schooling. How many high school age students do you really think end up graduating from home? A student can be withdrawn saying they are moving to another district. At the point of withdrawal said student is no longer figured into the reporting schools numbers. Second, typically, the senior class is used as the reporting pool. That does not take into account all the students that exited the system before making it to be a senior. If you want a more accurate picture, compare the number of freshman in one year to the number of graduating seniors four years later. The numbers will not be good.

I think we have observed measurable evidence of the decline of traditional family values. How can we not have? What can be more of a family value than the family itself? American families are disintegrating. If the above is not enough evidence for you, check out the links.

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Just like with children, elderly slip through cracks in the system. Increasingly more have no family that can/will assist them. | Source

Not only is the nuclear family disintegrating at an alarming rate, but fewer and fewer of us maintain extended family ties. With that said, I have to send out a huge Thank You to grandparents across the country for raising their grandchildren.

What does it say about younger generations that our parents are raising our children?

What does it say about the differing value systems held by each generation? Do you think it's improving?

4.) What caused the decline?

Systems - Great big ones.

4.) Employment

A. Controls much of employees time

B. Controls employees financial stability to a large degree. (no job, no check)

In America we have huge, powerful systems in operation that effect us directly and indirectly every day. They are so ingrained within our culture as to shape the very way we think. The degree to which their “messages” influences us varies widely among individuals. The young are typically much more susceptible to such messages, but they affect us all to some degree. The family is effected by each of the systems it interacts with as a unit, as are we all as individuals.

The systems that surround us not only interact with us as individuals, but further, they act upon us in groups of every conceivable demographic imagined. The first demographic group, traditionally the strongest, and the most basic was, of course, the family. They, the systems, also interact with each other. Each is effected by the others and in turn is constantly effecting all the others. The systems themselves are the source of much division and provide the ongoing fuel that keeps the fires of dissention among us blazing at all times.

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Is this a new phenomenon? No. Of course not. Gender in fact, if we really think about it, had to be the first “label”, the first indicator of some silly difference that could be used to divide.

You know what they say… Divide and conquer. Then, of course, came other things such as race, nationality in various forms, religion, and any other thing one can think of that makes any and all of us in any way unique, an individual.

Media - Largest System and Most Powerful

Capsule Added 12-26-11

This makes some strong points about how the media is programming people. I don't agree with all of his argument, but much of it is inarguable.

Think about how we all have been affected. Remember some popular shows of the past.

Take Star Trek for example; Regardless of being a fan or not, no one can argue many things that were first shown on that show, only dreamed of at the time, are now commonplace.

Examples of this include, but are not limited to, a women in a position of authority, personal computers, hand held computers (cell phones/tricorders...hello), and many, many more. A lot of what came from that show was good.

Now, think of how many shows have run since the mediums inception and how our society has changed.

Is it not possible, even probable, many, many undesirable things came from this too? Just look at how the nature of family as depicted on TV has changed. Try comparing and contrasting Leave It to Beaver or The Waltons with a modern family sitcom.

End of capsule addition

In conclusion:

We are surrounded by these systems. Name a time in your day when you're not. They program how we think even. It is in the best interest of those profiting off our division to keep us divided.

As you can see, I never got to point five and in truth barely scratched the surface of points three and four. I sincerely apologize. The topic is just too big to cover here in one hub. I am attempting to address it in a series of hubs examining how the ideology of politically correct speech is destroying America and will post a link here in the very near future.

Lastly, to the hubber that posed the initial question... You are a wonderful hubber and I know for a fact you meant nothing negative when you posed the question. In fact, I thank you for doing so as it got me to thinking.

I actually wrote this months ago when you first posed the question but got so overwhelmed I had to walk away. I got overwhelmed because I began to see more clearly how huge the ideology of politically correct is, how it has infected all systems and how imprisoned we are by said systems.

Thank you for sparking this thought tract as it has taken me to places I never would have dreamed and confirmed and solidified my initial thoughts in a way only fighting through an idea again and again from many angles can. God bless you.

Updates to the current state of family values in America

Well, here it is 2013, about two years after I originally wrote this. Things are much worse. Our nation is rocked in scandal at the very top levels of government. Elected leaders and their employees are embroiled in such current scandals as child molestation, systemic discrimination against those who do not support the current administration through the use of the IRS as a weapon, confiscation of private phone records and a judge just announcing criticizing Islam can be a crime. Mind you, this is just the headlines of the last few weeks.

Non traditional marriage is at the forefront of the news, while tax breaks for families are disappearing. Obamacare promises to pay for abortions but special needs children across the country are finding it hard to get medical care as more and more doctors retire and refuse to take Medicare. IRS jobs are still on the upswing. Homelessness is up. Unemployment is up.

Christianity is under attack in virtually every state in the union. Funny, that judge mentioned just a bit ago, I don't remember him mentioning anything about Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American Christian being tortured still in an Iranian prison just for being Christian. Doesn't that sound like a government instituted form of discrimination, a targeting of certain groups? Is not that the very opposite of what are supposed to be family values?

The very foundations of what is considered right and wrong are being redefined by the beast that is our government through all of the systems they control and surround us in.

The government is supposed to lead the people. When the leaders are so corrupt, so totally and completely devoid of family values themselves, how can the nation do anything but follow suit as long as it keeps said leaders?

Comments 23 comments

Thoughtful hub. In a consumer economy a high value is placed in things(money). Commitment to relationships(family values) does not generate a profit and therefore has less value.

SubRon7 4 years ago from eastern North Dakota

Poetvix, you did one heck of an amount of work to write this hub. I would like to add just one comment, and it's aimed straight at celebrity women: Music videos. Even though I do sometimes like to watch them, think of the effect they have been having on the youth of the "last" generation, and those new videos are not becoming any more "family/love/commitment/ETC" positive.

And there again it sounds like I'm blaming women, well, in a way I am, as we men look to women to be on the up-side of all things, starting with our mothers.

On the positive, thank you for this very informative hub.

James W. Nelson

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

GNelson ~ Thank you for dropping in and commenting. I have to say, you're right. Not only does it not generate a profit, but after thinking about it for a minute, I have to say many dollars are made off the destruction of the family...Court costs, legal fees, moving after divorce so on and so forth. Sad but true. God bless and happy hubbing!

SubRon7 ~ I don't find your comment to be blameful of women but true. Current videos and even not so current ones going back to the inception of the media typically show women in a non pure light shall we say and the women making them did make the decision to do it. How sad in current society that hoochy tends to make more money than modest. Great observation. Thanks bunches for reading and commenting. God bless you and happy hubbing!

Danette Watt 4 years ago from Illinois

I enjoyed your hub and as you say, there is far too much here to do the topic justice in one hub. "Family values"is very subjective and ideological (it would be interesting to note what has been considered a 'family value' has changed over the decades). In my family, (growing up and current) we value education, hard work, honesty, integrity, faithfulness but we also value questioning authority whether that is political leaders, religious leaders or whomever. We value duty to family and country, whether that is with military service or, for those (like my younger son) who can't serve, then service to others through Peace Corps, volunteerism, or whatever.

I am a feminist. I knew the ERA has never been passed and no, laws are not always enforced, sexism (and racism) still exists (i.e, the recent Ledbetter v Goodyear case or the even more recent Walmart case. A very interesting book to read is The Price of Motherhood by Ann Crittenden).

I take exception to SubRon7's comment (implication) "men look to women to be on the up-side of all things, starting with our mothers." That makes me think of the whole "Madonna/whore" split women are too often relegated to. Either/or, when in fact women can be both "good" and "bad" as that means we are fully human beings, not objectified as one or the other.

You could write multiple hubs on this subject and of course there have been tons of books written on this subject, which, as you say, barely scratch the surface themselves.

Good luck on your journey of discovery into this topic, it is fascinating and one I've always been interested in.

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Danette ~ Thank you for reading and commenting. I love how in depth your comment is. I will be writing multiple hubs on this, well on politically correct ideology and how it factors into this as well as many other forms of division, one of which I plan to publish tonight or in the morning. I don't take objection to Ron's comment as I see it to be a sad reality and to me that sword goes both ways. Yes, women in some videos portray themselves in a hoochy (my fave. word of the day) light. But then, men buy and view them and the women make them to get the money from that. I'm starting to even more vehemently think men and women are only opposite sides of the same human coin and the constant reminders of our differences, the ongoing battle to keep one subjugated to the other, has nothing at all to do with the differences between us but rather everything to do with division which allows for distraction! If we are so busy fighting each other we have no time to fight our real enemies, the ones profiting from the subjugation of us all, the ones pushing for global domination and control... but alas, that is a topic for my conclusionary hub. God bless you. Keep up the good fight and happy hubbing.

Sueswan 4 years ago

Hi poetvix

A very interesting and thought provoking hub.

I think most people want to be treated with respect and in turn will treat others the same way.

My dad was an atheist. He was disgusted when they started referring to the Christmas Tree as a holiday tree. He said, "It is Christmas and it is a Christmas tree."

It is time to bury "political correctness" for good.

Voted up and awesome.

Merry Christmas!

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Sueswan ~ Thank you for dropping, your kind words and your comment. I could not agree more about getting rid of PC for good. It just clouds the truth and further divides us all.

Merry Christmas to you and your family too!

mary615 4 years ago from Florida

Hi, poetvix, you have written a Hub on a subject that is near to my heart: my concern for the Youth of Today. You put a lot of time and effort into this Hub, with graphs, videos, etc. I certainly voted this UP, etc. I look forward to more of your Hubs on this subject because as you said, you have only scratched the surface. MERRY CHRISTMAS

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Mary615 ~ Thank you for the time and votes and more so for your kind words. The more I think about this, the more I realize I don't think I have even made a scratch. The topic is vast and can't really be examined without delving into what built this thought process and what sustains it which are huge in and of themselves. It makes me see why it will be so hard to change but we must.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Winsome 4 years ago from Southern California by way of Texas

Rhonda I am a follower and yet somehow missed a lot of your hubs. So sorry. While I've been away you have grown and blossomed. I admire you for tackling the big issues with such left-brained rigor. My left brain often makes my right one hurt, but it is necessary at times. I hope you take the time to write those--eewwe--romantic poems.

I am saddened I didn't make the cut of poets you admire. Maybe my two latest--Genesis and Anabasis, may be more to your liking.

When I was substitute teaching in fierce public schools, I found the only completely intractable students were those who had one or less parents at home, and then not all the time. I agree the family unit is key and those who are strong enough to buck the PC tide are too few to keep up with the needs of the children.

Maybe we need more couples who really love each other and their children and educational systems who reinforce that old fashioned ideal. I happen to know that Seth MacFarlane has devoted, intelligent and caring parents who let him scribble on cash register spools to the exclusion of all else. They had no idea how successful he would become, but they loved him and gave him the approval that allowed him to create scripts that are often the antithesis of his own family upbringing. Now a whole generation assumes these scenarios are somehow representative of family life.

The media and entertainment can't get audiences to watch if they show traditional values in action in real homes. It is the freakish, crime-bent segments that get the attention and the dysfunctional ones that are the stars of the show. (Vicadin popping, hooker using House, Nurse Jackie with her pill-robbing dependency, etc.)

Parenthood, Ron Howard's realistic family drama has every main character agonizing over some major challenge every episode. While this may mirror our hurting society, it tries to give some solutions but strains to maintain pc as it does so.

I actually believe that what we need more than pc and more than traditional rules of values is more love and acceptance, valuing and honest owning of needs and feelings.

Unconditional approval in a family goes farther sometimes than love, but hard choices to preserve the soul of the family is more admirable than passive acceptance or disapproval.

Sorry about the length, I just didn't want to give a shallow answer to such a worthy effort.

I will try to keep up. =:)

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Winsome ~ Let me start by saying thank you for such a thought out comment and for taking the time to read something so long and somewhat dry. I have missed a lot of everyone's Hubs. Don't give it a second thought. We all do what we can when we can. Sometimes real life demands we be elsewhere though we would rather be here. It has been that way for me up until this Christmas vacation for a few months.

Don't be saddened and don't think you didn't make it for as you will see I'm adding list link backs to many of my hubs and spreading my favorite authors around, different ones at different Hubs, at different times. There are so many wonderful writers here of which you are one.

So many of our youth are at risk now and a two parent household is a rare thing indeed.

I too think our society needs more love not only of family but of ourselves. We are so programmed by PC thinking to think we should be what it considers ideal we get down on ourselves if we are not careful. Just look at the number of younger and younger children suffering from eating disorders to look like the stars on TV. Girls and boys are hurting themselves by not eating, working out to the point of falling out and guzzling energy drinks to attain some projected image of what they think they should look like. It's such a shame.

God bless you in the year to come and may you have the most Happy of New Years.

tamarawilhite 4 years ago from Fort Worth, Texas

The welfare state is also eroding family values by preventing family formation. It used to be a disaster for a girl to have a baby on her own because it was a guarantee of poverty. If she had that one illegitimate child and kept it, she typically avoided having a second child alone.

Now a girl who has an illegitimate child has no reason to get married. In fact, because she loses the subsidized rent, childcare, cash payments and health insurance if she marries, she has a DIS-incentive to marry.

Never married couples are not equal to married couples. Co-habitating couples that never marry have a 75% chance of splitting before the child is a teenager. Couples that marry before having children have a 75% chance of staying together until the child is a teenager. Those who marry after having the baby separate about 50% of the time - still a third better chance of stability for the child than never-married families.

By discouraging marriage with benefits that cut off when she marries, we contribute to never-married "families" more fragile than those who married.

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Tamarawilhite ~ You make a good point and you are right. I see this all the time in schools. Further, there have been multiple studies suggesting welfare becomes generational for many families. Some call it a modern form of slavery keeping the poor a subjugated class. I'm all for helping those in need, but I think we need to give them the tools needed to become independent rather than keeping them stuck in poverty.

James A Watkins 4 years ago from Chicago

Thank you for this penetrating and wonderful article. I surely enjoyed reading it.

You wrote: "Just the term ‘family values” can be and is interpreted differently depending on what one’s individual experience and expectations of and with family is."

I think we can start here when we search for the demolition of American society. When I was young there was no question as to what a family was. Now they teach kids in school that ANY old arrangement of people is JUST AS GOOD as any other—which we know is a lie. No other factor predicts pathological social ills as does an intact home (married men and women with their children) or a broken home.

You write: "The shrinking/mutating of the traditional family value system is leading to the increasingly fast failing of our nation as a whole. It all begins with the decline of the family itself."

You can say that again!

I love this quote you pulled out: "Destroy the family, you destroy the country." Vladimir Ulyich Lenin

Then you ask: "Do you think perhaps someone put this plan into play? Do you think considering his political affiliations that maybe that person was a socialist?"

I not only think it I know it. Cultural Marxism designed to destroy America was dreamed up by the Frankfort School and brought to the 1960s counterculture by Herbert Marcuse and what was its aims? To destroy America by first destroying the traditional family, Capitalism, and Christianity.

You said, "Not only is the nuclear family disintegrating at an alarming rate, but fewer and fewer of us maintain extended family ties"

This is a major point and so important. A lot of people die all alone today and few folks take care of their elder family members anymore—many don't really know them very well and thus feel no obligation.

As you say, "Just look at how the nature of family as depicted on TV has changed. Try comparing and contrasting Leave It to Beaver or The Waltons with a modern family sitcom."

You are so right. If one only watched television you would have to conclude that the most unhappy people on earth are married, and the worst people must be Christians.

Personally, I believe America has been under attack by Spiritual forces of darkness since the 1960s.

Your Hub is great! I appreciate your fine work here.

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

James ~ Thank you more than I can say for your kind words, your thoughts and your reading. I know what you say is true. We are under attack and have been for some time though I'm starting to think the seeds that sprouted in the 60's were originated prior to 1900 on the far side of the globe. Of course, that’s a theory I’m just starting to explore and I surely could be wrong. I suspect, it may be traced back further still.

I fear for our children. So many children today do not know the love of two parents, some even the love of one. I see children in "state care" constantly and they are lost. They are angry and I can see why. We have become a throw away society that now even throws away our children and our parents. We have become so accustomed to tolerance, in my opinion, we tolerate what we know to be wrong out of the fear of being seen as insensitive. Common sense is uncommon.

I can't thank you enough for your words of encouragement. They mean more than I can say and came at the perfect time. God works in mysterious ways. God bless you and your family in this new year that promises to bring challenges on an epic scale.

Frank Atanacio 4 years ago from Shelton

what a forum you have started.. and we can go back and forth.. but I won't just going to praise you for a well thought involking hub.. man up and awesome.. I mean woman up and awesome :)

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Frank ~ Thank you for taking the time to read something so long and dry. I do appreciate it and your kind words. God bless and the happiest of hubbing to you!

CMerritt 4 years ago from Pendleton, Indiana

poetvix,

I am in love with you and your hubs!

You have put so much work and thought into it and it shows.

family values IS under attack, but for me, there is now way it will beat anyone who KNOWS the signficance of it.

I have a very close and tight family...and believe in the principals that God has placed before us...and I try my best to walk the walk so my kids know exactly where I stand.

We need to be responsible for ourselves....we know what is right and what is wrong....I also believe there are more like us than against us....we need to ignore the media and keep marching forward.

Great hub!

Chris

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

CMerritt~ Thank you for taking the time to read something so long, dry and involved and for your kind words. I agree we need to be responsible for ourselves and that family comes first. Sadly, many do not. Further, so many children are lost. They don't have family. I guess I am somewhat jaded on this subject because I see those children every day. What's going to happen to our nation when they grow up? It's just around the corner. They don't have traditional family values. It's not their fault, but it is true.

Thanks again for reading and commenting and God bless you and yours.

mythbuster 4 years ago from Utopia, Oz, You Decide

Excellent hub, poetvix... very in-depth but as many people have mentioned already - just the beginning of opening up the discussions on eroding family values. Each one of the systems - including "family" here are social constructions - and as such, we have put them together, all of us - either through effort or through a type of manufactured consent (doing nothing is still a decision). If we really find value in and want to keep our families intact, improve our own family situations, I think we need to just start. I know it's more complicated than that but if we look at the big picture things often appear too overwhelming (looking at all the powerful systems that control our laws, rights, finances, etc) and we think we can't do anything at all to move toward improvements. I think we need to learn how to, somehow, pan back and forth between big picture and family groupings, creating change... for example, we can't ask big media or blame that system for problems if we're insisting on downloading/watching violent programs, not discussing these things with our kids, etc., right? In a similar way, it may be that some women shouldn't scream about wanting to be equals when they act aggressive and threatening, offering oppression while asking to be liberated from their oppression, if you know what I mean... Poetvix - just read your last comment about lost children... When they grow up it would be cool if we have learned, in the next few years, to talk to those kids about a new kind of CHOSEN family - even if their biological roots are shaky (mind you, we have to work RIGHT NOW, then - to show a model of chosen, interactive family). I probably should have read this hub a few more times before commenting - there is a LOT of content above...

poetvix 4 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Mythbuster - Thank you for dropping by. I have not seen you in a long time. I doubt I can do justice to your comment right now as I just woke up and the old brain is still somewhere between sleep and actually being on. I guess in a condensed form I have to say life is all about choices. However, the choices we make as adults stem from the foundations we got as children. I feel so many children right now are not getting those foundations and it will affect any and all choices they make as adults. This is not new. There have been children who have raised themselves throughout the history of our nation but I contend the numbers of such now are larger than they have ever been. Further, while I agree to a point that we all have choices to tune out the systems that surround us to a point, I contend children have much less of a choice. They love games. They don't stop to think about what they see in the games is doing to them. We can't expect them to at their age and by the time we can the damage is done.

I found your comment to be most interesting. I will have to think on it some more.

Thanks again for taking the time to read and comment. God bless and have a most happy weekend!

Sanxuary 3 years ago

I always search in the middle for the answers. I am not saying the Bible is the answer but when I asked the questions, How do the lessons taught teach me how to build Sanctuary in myself, my home and every where I go? The Bible finally made sense to me. When looking at the World we live in I found that we are making horrible personal choices and that we are not building a sanctuary at home or creating a better place with our presence. I do not think equality is destroying the picture but has invited confusion in terms of selfishness, self entitlement and confusion by demanding to be both a co worker and a male or female and sometimes both. The lack of creating self sanctuary the reason for selfishness in the first place, the lack of sanctuary that creates unselfishness and maturity, is not passing any test. The goal is to grow and become strong as a unit and survive the challenges of Earthly existence and we quit learning to make good choices and how to survive together when things are tough.

poetvix 3 years ago from Gone from Texas but still in the south. Surrounded by God's country. Author

Sanxuary ~ Thank you for such a personal and insightful comment. I really like the part about ..."I do not think equality is destroying the picture but has invited confusion in terms of selfishness, self entitlement and confusion..." I think you may have hit the nail on the head. God bless and happy hubbing!